The Prophecy of The Faeries
by Winxcat
Summary: PLz read, I am too lazy too write a summary!
1. The Prophecy

Neopets: The Prophecy Of The Faeries

Chapter 1 ; Part 1, The Prophecy

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story.**

An earth faerie walked down the crowded halls of Faerie Heights Academy of Magical Study, an immense pile of books stacked in her arms. Her waist-length hair, which was misty red streaked with green and brown, hung in a braid down her back, the colors perfectly accentuating her deep brown eyes. Thin-rimmed reading glasses sat crookedly on her nose, drawing attention to the scattered freckles across her cheeks.

"Hey, Tenny!" called a familiar voice. The earth faerie, whose full name was Hortensia, turned around and saw one of her best friends, a dark faerie named Bernadette, walking towards her. Bernadette's short, cropped hair was deep black with tints of purple, shaping her round face. Her eyes were swirled with black and purple, creating a color Bernadette had nicknamed "blarple". The exact opposite of her friend, Bernadette carried few books and gave an overall appearance of rebelliousness.

The earth faeries standing near Hortensia muttered and snickered rudely as Hortensia turned to join her friend. Hortensia and Bernadette, who were quite used to other faeries' reactions to their unusual friendship, ignored them and headed downstairs to the water faerie floor, where their friend Victoria was frantically attempting to mop up a puddle of water on the floor surrounding her.

"Good work, Tori," Bernadette teased sarcastically.

"Help me!" Victoria replied, looking over her shoulder into the hallway behind her. "I think the principal's coming down here!"

"Down here? What's Principal Dinusa doing down here?" Hortensia asked.

"Who cares? Help me!"

Hortensia waved her hand at the window, and the tall vines that grew just beneath it sprang up and grew straight through the window, landing at Victoria's feet.

"Absorb," Hortensia commanded, and the plant began soaking up the water. When all of the water had vanished from the floor, Hortensia commanded, "Recede."

The waterlogged plant crawled back out the window to resume its former position just as the principal came striding around the corner. Principal Dinusa was a tall yellow Wocky, who always wore a long, violet cloak emblazoned with the school logo. How a Wocky, or any species of neopet for that matter, could become principal of Faerie Heights Academy was a source of debate (and many jokes) among her students.

"What are you two doing on the water faerie floor?" she asked sharply, glaring at Hortensia and Bernadette. The three faeries were surprised. Dinusa was hardly ever seen around the school, and wasn't known for reprimanding students. She left disciplinary issues to her vice principal, a fire faerie named Petrici. The only explanation, Hortensia thought, is that she's in a very bad mood.

"We were just leaving," Victoria said quickly.

"Hurry along to class," the principal ordered, even though classes had already ended for the day. "And why," she asked suddenly, looking at Victoria, "are you so wet?"

"I'm a water faerie," Victoria answered innocently. "I'm always soaked."

Glaring at the three of them suspiciously but unable to think of anything else to criticize, she stormed away down the corridor.

"What's her problem?" Victoria muttered. "And what's she doing up here anyway?"

"She's meeting with aliens from another planet," Bernadette joked. "They're planning the next cafeteria meal. Ever wonder what's in the mystery meat?"

"Ew, Dette, that's so gross!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Did you know that sixty-five percent of all Neopians claim to have suffered near-death experiences caused by cafeteria lunch meat?" Bernadette continued. Victoria rolled her eyes dramatically.

"That's ridiculous," Hortensia said.

"Numbers don't lie," Bernadette replied, as she always did.

"So, where's Clarisse?" Hortensia asked suddenly. "Wasn't she supposed to meet you up here, Tori?"

"I don't know what happened to her," Victoria said, looking worried.

"Probably took a wrong staircase or something. You know how she gets sometimes. Can't even remember where she is," Bernadette said, faking optimism. Concerned, the three friends waited for the final member of their group to join them.

Clarisse wandered slowly down the crowded hall of the air faerie floor, heading towards the nearby staircase. She ran her fingers absently through her short, white-blond hair. As she passed a nearby fire faerie, she felt angry thoughts flickering through the faerie's mind.

Clarisse seemed to have the uncanny ability to tell what people were thinking or feeling, almost as if she could read minds. Sometimes she even predicted future events before they happened, as though she had psychic abilities. Her friends never questioned her about this peculiar "talent", deciding it was better if they didn't know. At this moment, Clarisse felt exactly what the fire faerie was feeling, knew exactly why she was so upset, and was filled with overwhelming pity.

She stopped walking and looked up at the faerie's face, staring her straight in the eye. The faerie turned to look at her, appearing quite unnerved, for Clarisse's eyes were so strange: huge, perfectly circular, and unblinking, with unnaturally large pupils; blue as the sky, yet slightly clouded, they seemed to reflect images like a fogged mirror. The faerie quickly looked away.

"I'm sorry about your sister," Clarisse said suddenly, making the faerie appear even more shocked.

"What are you talking about?" the girl snapped, and for a moment she looked fearful. "You're crazy," the faerie added, and ran away down the corridor. Surprised by the faerie's reaction, Clarisse went up two flights of stairs to the water faerie floor, where she found her friends waiting for her.

"Where have you been?" Victoria asked.

"I was just talking to someone," Clarisse said vaguely.

"Claire, you know people get nervous when you read their minds," Bernadette said reprimanded.

"I felt sorry for her," Clarisse said simply. "Something horrible happened to her." As usual, the others did not ask Clarisse how she knew this.

"Well, just keep it to yourself," Bernadette said. Then she added randomly, "Hey, did you know that eighty-eight percent of all Faerieland residents insist upon having traumatic experiences related to dark faeries?"

"Dette, that's ridiculous," Victoria interrupted. "Most people probably didn't answer those polls truthfully."

"It was an anonymous poll, so no one would have any reason to be untruthful. Numbers don't lie," Bernadette said smugly. Bernadette loved to read Neopian polls, and often memorized the results. She also loved trivia, and often interjected facts and statistics into any conversation, which sometimes caused her to be unpopular with some of the other faeries.

As Victoria started to respond, Hortensia cut her off. "Let's go to Clarisse's dorm. The middle of a hallway isn't the best place for a conversation." Her friends agreed, so the four of them walked down two flights of stairs to the air faerie floor, and headed down a long hallway and around the corner to the air faerie dormitories. Victoria and Bernadette bickered about numbers, percentages, and polls as the odd assortment of faeries headed down the hall to the very last dormitory, number four fifty-one.

Four fifty-one was the only dormitory in the entire school that had only one occupant. This was because Clarisse had been orphaned at a young age, so the school allowed her to have her own private dorm room and to stay on the school campus during holidays, when the rest of the students went home. The vice principal of the school, Petrici, acted as Clarisse's guardian until she was older.

Clarisse produced the silver key and unlocked the door. As soon as the lock clicked, Bernadette unceremoniously shoved it open and strode in, the others following in her wake. The faeries seated themselves around the room, and Hortensia closed the door behind them. For the next hour, the four faeries chatted absently, eating their way through the various sweets hidden around Clarisse's room (food was not allowed in dormitories).

At one point, the conversation turned to teachers. Since the four friends were all different types of faeries, they didn't have many classes together. Faerie Heights Academy was divided into seven floors: one floor for each type of faerie, plus a main floor. All of the classes that were unique to that type of faerie, plus the dorm rooms, were on that specific floor, but the dining hall, principal's office, library, the classes that were offered to all types of faeries, and several other areas were located on the main floor, which was positioned exactly in the middle of the school, with three floors above it and three below. Because of this system, the four friends didn't see each other much during the school day, so they often compared teachers and classes.

"Professor Lettis must be the weirdest teacher in the entire school," Hortensia said. "She's my Botany teacher, and she's absolutely crazy. I haven't learned anything from her at all. She just tells random stories that are completely unrelated to what we're studying. Today she spent the whole period telling us about some former students of hers who were twins and always switched places, and then with two minutes of class left she says, 'Oh, here's your assignment' without even telling us how to do it."

"That's not nearly as weird as my Practical Use of Water Magic teacher," Victoria insisted. "Professor Trahtooh. Every time she's talking about water, she says 'aqua', like this: 'In order to move the aqua with your powers from this side of the room to the other, you must focus your power on the aqua and then try a lifting motion. This should lift the aqua into the air. Using your hands you can wave aqua in the direction you wish. Be careful not to move the aqua too fast, or you could cause aqua droplets to fly across the room,'" Victoria said, using a high, warbled voice in imitation of her teacher.

Bernadette laughed. "At least your Practical Magic teacher doesn't try to convince you to use your powers for evil. Penwire, my Practical Use of Dark Magic teacher, thinks the only thing dark magic can do is bad stuff. We haven't learned anything practical at all. I've been teaching myself how to do stuff by reading some old textbooks from the library."

"You know, I'd probably better go to the library and get started on my homework. We have finals in a week, you know," Hortensia interjected.

"So soon?" Victoria asked, looking alarmed. "I'll come with you."

"Ditto," Bernadette said.

"Okay," Clarisse agreed.

The four faeries went upstairs to the main floor and headed for the library. As they approached it, Victoria suddenly gasped, "Oh, no. I just realized that Appletree banned me from the library the other day. I kind of... ruined a few books."

Victoria had a problem controlling her powers. She often inexplicably created puddles of water from nowhere, as she had in the corridor earlier that afternoon. Actually, the reason this happened was because Victoria was an exceptionally powerful faerie, but few faeries, not even Victoria herself, knew this. Few had ever seen such a young faerie with such power before, and so no one knew how to teach her to control it. As a result, Victoria lost control of her powers, and was thought to be untalented, while in reality she was exactly the opposite.

"Would she really recognize you?" Clarisse asked.

"Yes. She chased me out of the library with a broom, screaming as loudly as she could," Victoria said as Bernadette laughed.

"It isn't funny," Victoria added hotly.

"I'm not laughing at you, Tori, I'm laughing at the image of Appletree running around with a broom."

"Well, have fun without me," Victoria said, starting to leave.

"Wait a minute. Who said you had to leave? All I need to do is change your appearance a little. That's one of the few useful things Penwire actually taught us," suggested Bernadette.

"No way."

"What? You don't think I can do it?"

"No, I don't."

"Thanks for the show of confidence."

"You're welcome. Goodbye." Once again, Victoria started to leave.

"Come on, Tori. Please?"

"Oh, all right. But if I end up looking ugly and you can't change me back, I'm going to bewitch a severe thunderstorm to float above your head and follow you around forever."

"Yeah right. Now hold still. It will only take a second."

"That's what they all say," Victoria said, but begrudgingly stood still. Bernadette concentrated for a moment, and then muttered, "Temporarily Transform." There was a large cloud of purple smoke, and then Victoria was changed.

Her nose was smaller and rounder, her cheekbones and forehead lower, her eyes smaller, more oval-shaped, and a lighter blue in color. Her chin was rounder, her neck longer, and her cheeks fuller. All of these slight changes combined to make her face look completely different. Finally, Bernadette had changed her hair. Normally, Victoria's hair was long, all the way down to her knees, and naturally curled in spiraling ringlets, but now it was much shorter and perfectly straight. It was also a darker color; normally Victoria's hair was light blonde, but now it was almost brown. Her skin tone was also a little darker. She didn't look ugly, nor did she look exceptionally pretty; she just looked different.

"What did you do?" Victoria asked accusingly, attempting to examine herself. Clarisse pulled a small mirror out of her backpack and handed it to Victoria, who studied her reflection critically.

"It'll work for a while, I suppose," she said finally, handing the mirror back to Clarisse and walking into the library.

"Was that actually a compliment?" Bernadette said in mock surprise, following Victoria inside.

The four of them quickly located their usual table, in the far corner of the Magical Herbs and Plants section, partially hidden by a large bookcase and safe from the prying eyes of the strict librarian, Professor Appletree.

At one point during their studying, a young fire faerie wearing the silver badge of a prefect approached their table. Hortensia recognized her as Tamporean, a faerie from their Magic History class. Tamporean studied their group warily, finding it very unusual that a group of such different kinds of faeries should be studying together.

"New schedules for the next semester have just come in," she explained for the twentieth time that day. "If you have any problems with your schedule, report to the main office." She flipped through the large stack of papers and produced the schedules for Hortensia, Bernadette, and Clarisse. She hesitated when she looked at Victoria, however. She didn't even recognize her classmate now that Bernadette had changed her appearance. "Your name and room number?" Tamporean asked.

"Victoria, room two hundred eleven."

Finding the appropriate paper, Tamporean handed it to her and headed off to another table, never realizing that she had a classmate named Victoria who looked very similar to the water faerie sitting in the library.

"Oh, no," Bernadette said, looking at her schedule. "They put me down for Practical Use of Dark Magic twice! I hate that class enough without having it twice in one day. I've got to go to the main office."

"They're closed this late. You'll have to wait until tomorrow," Clarisse said, examining her own schedule.

"But we have Magic History class first thing tomorrow. I'll have to go after."

Deciding that they were done studying for the night, the four friends said goodbye and headed off to their respective dormitories.

The next morning, all four of them had Magic History class with an elderly blue Draik named Professor Hentoff. In fact, this was the only class that all four of them had together.

When Clarisse arrived in the classroom, she took her seat in the far back corner, next to a window that let in a gentle, early-morning breeze. Two seats in front of her was Bernadette, who looked bleary-eyed and was trying to stay awake. Two rows over sat Victoria, looking like herself again, since Bernadette had undone the appearance spell the night before. Hortensia sat at the very front of the class, with pen and paper out on her desk, ready to take notes, her glasses perched lopsidedly on her freckled nose.

As the clock in the hall chimed, Professor Hentoff entered the classroom. The only non-faerie to teach at Faerie Heights besides Principal Dinusa, Hentoff was a famous historian known throughout Neopia. It was said that no one knew more about the origins of magic than Hentoff. Most of his students disliked him, however, because they found his historical lectures to be quite dull, not to mention his fondness for essay tests.

"Good morning, class," said Hentoff.

"Good morning, Professor Hentoff," half of the class mumbled. The rest were already falling asleep.

"Most of you probably don't know that today, the thirtieth of the month of Gathering, has historical significance. I have decided to make this historical day the topic of today's lesson."

Hortensia was already frantically scribbling down everything Hentoff was saying. Vaguely interested, Clarisse paid attention as Hentoff continued to speak.

"Five hundred years ago to this day, there lived a very famous prophetess who claimed to see into the future. In fact, she saved the entire kingdom of Meridell by warning the king of a coming famine. Many considered her to be the greatest prophetess Neopia had ever seen. She was a red Xweetok named Khorianna. Some were skeptical of her abilities because she was quite young, but others trusted her completely. Khorianna made several prophecies in her time. No one is quite sure of the exact number, for a fire consumed the original Altadorian Archives, including the scrolls on which her prophecies were written.

"Khorianna's downfall, however, was her failure to predict a terrible plague. The people blamed Khorianna for not warning them of the devastation brought by the plague. Some even accused Khorianna of witchcraft, and claimed that she brought the plague herself. Khorianna and several close friends went into hiding in the mountains.

"Two months ago, an ancient diary was found (I am proud to say that I assisted in that discovery), apparently written by Khorianna's brother, Marpameus, who went into hiding with her. The diary says that Khorianna fell ill while in the mountains, and during that period became fevered and delirious, and had several hallucinations. According to Marpameus's diary, Khorianna made three prophecies during this time, all of which predicted terrible things that would happen to Neopia. Marpameus couldn't be sure if these were legitimate predictions, since Khorianna was so ill, but even so he recorded all three in the final pages of his diary. When the diary was recovered two months ago, many of the pages, including the last, were missing. Only one prophecy, the first of the three made during that time, was found. This prophecy was made on the thirtieth day of Gathering, and foretold something that would happen exactly five hundred years later. Today is the thirtieth of Gathering, exactly five hundred years later. Therefore, I would like to share the contents of this prophecy with you today."

Now Clarisse was paying full attention. She knew the story of Khorianna well. Clarisse seemed to have some prophetess-like talents herself, and had always been interested in the stories of others who claimed to have psychic abilities.

"The prophecy reads as follows:

Five hundred years from now,

Four faerie heroes will uncover

A devious plot to conquer all.

By themselves they shall discover

The object of many myths and legends,

The Shining Sun, the Golden Light,

The only thing that can save us

And keep Neopia burning bright.

An evil villain with a wicked heart

Who pretends to be a friend

Must be defeated, or Neopia

Will soon be at an end.

The four once outcasts,

The four once alone,

Could they be the saviors of us all,

Who keep the tyrant from her throne?

"Obviously, the prophecy doesn't make much sense. Khorianna's prophecies were known for their clarity of meaning, but Marpameus wrote that the three made in the mountains were absolutely puzzling. This makes many historians skeptical that these were real prophecies, or that the document just found in the mountains is actually written by Marpameus."

"Do you believe the prophecy, sir?" asked a light faerie beside Hortensia.

"It is my belief that this 'seeing the future' nonsense is absolutely ridiculous. There is no possible way for a person to truly see what will happen in the future. Now, one could make a fairly accurate guess. That is what I believe Khorianna did when predicting that famine. At the time meteorology was not studied, but if someone had studied weather patterns, they might have guessed that a drought, and therefore a famine, was on the way. So, though she might have been unusually clever and perceptive, Khorianna didn't really see the future. Her other predictions were of the same nature. It would be very fascinating to study her other prophecies, but as they have been lost we shall never know of their contents. This so-called prophecy is absolute rubbish, but it does make for an interesting history lesson."

Clarisse raised her hand. Many people in the classroom turned to stare at her. Clarisse hardly ever spoke in front of the class.

"Yes, Clarisse?"

"Whatever happened to Khorianna, sir?"

Professor Hentoff looked rather surprised at the question. "Funny you should ask. No one knows for certain. Marpameus's diary ends on the sixth of the following month. A week later, the plague was over, and townspeople entered the mountains in search of Khorianna and the others. Eventually their hiding place was found, but no one was there, nor was there any sign that they had died. They had simply vanished without a trace."

Bernadette felt shivers run up her spine. "Did they search the mountains near where they found their hiding place?" Bernadette asked, not bothering to raise her hand. "Maybe they were moving somewhere else, but died along the way?"

"It's possible," Hentoff said, "but very unlikely. All areas of those mountains that could be reached by climbing were completely searched. No signs of life were ever found."

"But they only just now found the diary," Bernadette persisted.

"A diary is a difficult thing to find," Professor Hentoff said. "Now then, let's continue yesterday's topic, the Meridellian Uprising of—"

The loud ringing of the bell interrupted Professor Hentoff, signaling the end of class. "We'll pick up here tomorrow," Hentoff said. "Class dismissed."

The students, most still groggy and half-asleep, filed out of the classroom. Hortensia, Bernadette, Clarisse, and Victoria met up just outside of class and headed to the dining hall for breakfast.

"I thought that Khorianna stuff was much more interesting than Hentoff's usual lessons," Hortensia said.

"You think all of his lessons are interesting. You're the only one in the class who actually manages to stay awake, and only because you're afraid that you won't get a good grade," Bernadette teased.

"It was more interesting than usual," Victoria added, coming to Hortensia's defense. "The so-called Meridellian Uprising was a couple of farmers who got mad at the marketplace for selling them something rotten, so they burned down the shop and all got arrested. It's so boring!"

"Actually, the Meridellian Uprising was caused by people who worked in the marketplace, not farmers, and they were upset because some—"

"Okay, we get it, Miss Know-It-All," Victoria said irritably. "As Dette said, you're the only one who actually stays awake during his class, except today wasn't half as boring as usual. Do you think that whole prophecy thing was true?"

"It is true," said Clarisse, suddenly jumping into the conversation. Everyone turned to look at her. She had a funny, far-away look in her eyes.

"You sure, Claire?" Bernadette asked softly.

"Yes. Khorianna was a real prophetess, and she wasn't delusional," Clarisse said, with absolute certainty.

"Okay," Victoria said, looking for a change in topic, because she suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Hey look, they're having strawberries on the buffet today!" she added as they reached the dining hall. No one said anything further about their Magic History class as they found a table and received their food.

"Dette, shouldn't you be going to Principal's office to get your schedule fixed?" Hortensia asked.

"Oh yeah!" Bernadette said, dropping her cinnamon roll. "I forgot. Thanks, Tenny!" She grabbed her book bag and raced out of the hall.

Bernadette bypassed several students who gave her odd looks and ignored the shouts of teachers as she raced along the hallway to the far corner of the main floor, where Principal Dinusa's office was located. The door was closed, and a small red cloth was draped around the doorknob, meaning the principal was busy. With a sigh, Bernadette dropped to one of the uncomfortable chairs just outside the door and waited.

She never intended to eavesdrop, but Bernadette just couldn't resist listening the conversation as she heard voices coming from the closed door. There was no one else around, so she whispered, "Make Loud and Clear" and aimed the spell in the direction of the office door. Not only were the voices suddenly louder, but also every sound in the office could be easily heard throughout the deserted corridor. Grinning to herself, Bernadette closed her eyes and listened. She heard the soft crackling of a small fire in the grate, the scraping of a wooden-legged chair being pushed across a stone floor, and the scratching of a pencil on paper.

"Now listen closely," said a voice she recognized as Dinusa's. "Write all of this down, in case you can't seem to keep all of the details straight in your pea-sized brain."

"That's odd," Bernadette thought. "She must not be talking to a student or teacher."

"Yes, of course," said a squeaky male voice. The pencil scratched on paper again. "I will be leaving the school for three days," said Dinusa, "and you will be in charge. If anyone questions your authority, report that faerie directly to me. During this time you are not to let anyone out of the school, do you understand? No one shall leave. My trip does not fall on a weekend, so classes will be in session. Use the spell I taught you to keep in touch, but do not contact me unless you must, got that?"

"Yes, of course," the squeaky voice repeated.

"Good. Any further questions?"

"May I just ask where you will be?" said the voice timidly. "How does this fall into our plans?"

"Must you question everything, Rutherford? If you must know—" Here she lowered her voice. "I am taking this to the person we discussed. He told me it could not be activated until a full moon, which is tonight. I will take it to him, and he will activate it. Then I will be able to use it. Must I repeat what it is used for, or does your primitive mind understand?"

"I understand," whispered Rutherford.

"Do you really, Rutherford? Do you really understand what our mission is all about?"

Rutherford stuttered a nervous, incoherent reply. Dinusa's voice rose irritably. "Let me make this very clear. In three days' time, I will conquer Neopia!"

To be continued...


	2. The Plan

Neopets: The Prophecy of The Faeries

Chapter 2 ; Part 2, The Plan

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story.**

Bernadette nearly gasped aloud. She was so shocked that she missed some of the following conversation.

"Very well," Dinusa was saying. "I leave in two hours. Until then, mind your class as usual. Oh, and Rutherford? I've heard that our friend Professor Hentoff told his first class a little story about Khorianna. See to that he understands he is not tell any more stories of this nature."

"Yes, Dinusa," said Rutherford. There was more scraping as someone stood from the chair, and then rapid footsteps coming towards the door. Quickly, Bernadette whispered, "Undo," just before the door creaked open. Out came a small, timid-looking Meerca, who Bernadette recognized as the temporary substitute for a teacher in the water faerie department, who was sent home several months ago because of illness. Bernadette pretended to be digging through her book bag.

"You wish to see the principal?" he asked, looking startled to see her.

"Yes, just let me find my schedule," Bernadette said, even though she knew perfectly well where it was. Rutherford took the red cloth off of the doorknob and replaced it with a green one. He strode away, and Bernadette knocked once before hurrying inside, her mind spinning with what she had just heard.

"Yes?" Dinusa asked as Bernadette entered the room. "What is it?"

For a moment Bernadette forgot why she had come. "Oh, uh, there's been a problem with my schedule," Bernadette said, pulling it from her bag and handing it to Dinusa. While Dinusa looked at the schedule, Bernadette glanced around the room. She was standing beside a wooden chair that she guessed Rutherford had just vacated. On the other side of the desk Dinusa sat in a high-backed armchair, behind which a fire burned in the grate. All of the windows had been covered with heavy drapes, which Bernadette hadn't seen in her previous visits to Dinusa's office; she wondered if Dinusa was worried about someone finding out about what she and Rutherford had been discussing.

"Yes, you do have a problem," said Dinusa after a moment. "I'll speak with my secretary about correcting it, and a new schedule will be sent to your dorm room after lunch. What is your room number?"

After giving Dinusa her dorm room number and thanking her for her time, though she didn't mean it at all, Bernadette hurried out of the room and ran back to the dining hall, where breakfast was just letting out. She spotted her friends and ran over to them.

"What's wrong?" Clarisse asked as Bernadette neared them.

"You will never believe what I have to tell you," Bernadette said. Clarisse gave her a funny look, and Bernadette suddenly wondered if Clarisse was reading her thoughts. After a moment a surprised look appeared on Clarisse's face.

"Yes, you have quite a story to tell," she said softly. "You'd better wait until there's no one around."

"Yes," agreed Bernadette, as Hortensia and Victoria gave them strange looks.

"Well, let's go to class then," Victoria said, and she and Hortensia hurried to join the throng that was filing out of the dining hall.

"By the way," Clarisse whispered as she walked past Bernadette, "I wasn't reading your thoughts, just watching your memories." With these haunting words, she walked away, leaving Bernadette standing speechlessly behind her.

After classes ended for the day, Victoria hurried to the air faerie floor and went to Clarisse's dormitory. Bernadette and Clarisse were already there. As soon as Hortensia arrived, breathless from running down three flights of stairs, Bernadette shut the door.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell us?" Victoria asked.

"When I went up to Dinusa's office, Rutherford, that substitute in the Water class, he was in her office talking to her, and I heard—"

"You were eavesdropping?" Hortensia scolded.

"Tenny, listen, Dinusa said she was going away and she was leaving Rutherford in charge. She said he wasn't allowed to let anyone out of the school. Rutherford asked where she was going, and said something about plans. She was talking about an object; I don't know what it was. She said she was taking it to the person who made it, and something about activating it so she could use it. The she said they were going to conquer Neopia! Oh, and somehow she knew Hentoff told us that Khorianna story, and told Rutherford to tell Hentoff not to tell that story anymore."

Hortensia and Victoria stared at her.

"Well, don't you think it's strange?" Bernadette continued hesitantly. "They were acting like it was some big secret, like they were doing something wrong."

"Don't you think you're blowing this out of proportion?" Hortensia asked.

"No!" Bernadette said stubbornly. "Tenny, you weren't there; you didn't hear it!"

"So what are you suggesting, that Dinusa's evil?" Victoria asked skeptically.

"That's exactly right," said Clarisse in a strange voice. The three faeries turned to look at her. Her eyes were glazed over and out of focus. "Claire, are you all right?" Victoria asked.

"Yes," she said, and suddenly she looked fine. "Dette is right."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I found out about what Dette heard, I went past Dinusa's office and I could tell what she was thinking. She's planning something, something bad. And it has to do with the prophecy we heard in class today."

"Are you sure?" Victoria asked.

"Positive. Don't you remember the prophecy? 'An evil villain with a wicked heart who pretends to be a friend must be defeated... Four faerie heroes will discover a devious plot to conquer all.' I know it's true, and the four faeries are us," Clarisse said firmly.

At first no one seemed convinced, but the Hortensia said, "Didn't it say something about the four faeries being outcasts?"

They all knew what Hortensia was talking about. Years ago, when they first came to Faerie Heights, none of them knew each other. They were different types of faeries who were in different classes and didn't associate. The one thing they had in common was that they were unpopular. Hortensia was very shy, and didn't talk to anyone she didn't know very well, a trait that made the other faeries think that she didn't talk at all. They also disliked her because Hortensia was smart. All of the teachers loved her and praised everything she did, which made the other faeries jealous. Clarisse was considered insane or sick or just strange. Bernadette didn't act like the other dark faeries, and had the rather annoying habit of spouting off facts and statistics at every given opportunity. Victoria had the nasty habit of unleashing floods, rain, and puddles onto her classmates accidentally, which did not earn her any friends. One by one, each of them discovered a hidden alcove on the main floor, off a small hallway between the vice principal's offices and the library. Each of them liked to visit this alcove whenever they wanted to hide from their classmates. One day, they all ended up in the alcove at the same time, and from then on they became friends. Bernadette jokingly called the alcove "Outcast Alley" and the name stuck. From then on they thought of themselves as "the faerie outcasts."

"'Outcast' is a pretty common word," Victoria said stubbornly. "It could refer to anyone."

"It refers to us," Clarisse insisted.

"Okay, so what do we do about it?" Hortensia asked, finally convinced.

"We have to tell someone," Bernadette said.

"Who can we tell? We don't have any proof, just what you think you heard, and what Clarisse knows. If you tell someone, they'll think you're crazy," Victoria pointed out. "And anyway, we don't know which of the other teachers are working with Dinusa."

"Your families live here in Faerieland," Bernadette said, looking at Hortensia and Victoria. "Tenny, your sisters even go to school here! We could tell them."

"They'd never believe me," Hortensia said. "Especially since the only witness is a dark faerie. No offense, but they wouldn't believe you."

"Neither would mine," said Victoria glumly.

"We'll have to tell someone really important, someone who can't take the risk that we might be lying," Clarisse said.

"How about Fyora?" Hortensia suggested. "There's no one more powerful in Faerieland than her."

"But how will we see her? Rutherford's not going to let anyone out of the school, and not everyone can see Fyora whenever they want to."

"We have to try," Bernadette said firmly.

"Okay," Victoria said, "but I still think you're all nuts."

"Speaking of nuts, did you know that sixty percent of all Neopians polled said that their favorite type of nut is the cashew? Twenty percent said peanut, ten percent said almond, and ten percent said another type," Bernadette chimed in.

Clarisse and Hortensia groaned simultaneously.

"I rest my case," said Victoria.

That night Hortensia told her roommate that she was staying up late to study for a test, but really she had no intention of going to sleep. As soon as the other earth faerie was slumbering away, Hortensia silently slid her book onto the nightstand and tiptoed over to the door. Unfortunately Hortensia's dormitory was on one of the inside walls and didn't have any windows, so she'd have to creep silently through the school.

First, she'd have to unlock the door. The teachers always locked the doors from the outside at night, so that no one could sneak around and cause trouble. Teachers first locked it with a key, and then used a spell on it, a spell that no student in the history of the school had ever undone, or so everyone said. The same spell was also used on all dormitory windows.

Hortensia felt her heart pounding. She had never done anything with such a blatant disregard for rules. In her nervousness, she tripped and sent something heavy toppling from the nearby bureau with a loud crash. Her roommate's eyes fluttered. "What was that?" she asked.

"Sorry, going to the bathroom," Hortensia lied, slipping through the nearby door into the dormitory bathroom, hoping that her roommate hadn't been able to tell what she was wearing. She quickly shut the door and waited, counting the seconds. After counting to five hundred and twenty, Hortensia peeked through the bathroom door. Her roommate appeared to be asleep again. Hortensia left the bathroom, knowing that she had to hurry. The others would be waiting for her.

This time she made it to the door without incident. From her pocket she took out a small bean plant that had only just begun to sprout. Concentrating, Hortensia willed the plant to grow. She didn't say the spell aloud for fear of attracting the attention of her roommate, but it took much more concentration to do it silently. Finally, the plant had grown about three feet and molded itself so that it fit into the keyhole of the door. She heard the satisfying click as the door unlocked. Now she had to hope that Bernadette was on the other side of the door, ready to undo the locking enchantment placed upon it. Bernadette was convinced that she would be able to do it, because she had read something about the spell in an old library book. She was supposed to sneak out her dormitory window, double around, enter the school through the back door of the kitchen, and unlock Hortensia's door.

Hortensia waited, hoping that Bernadette was on the other side of the door and had heard the lock click. But nothing happened. "What happened to Bernadette?" she wondered silently as she waited in the darkness.

Clarisse didn't have the problem of roommates or unlocking spells. The school nurse had been quite convinced that Clarisse's claims to having visions and reading minds was some type of illness, and had instructed a school prefect to wait outside the door each night. Clarisse was instructed to tap three times on the wood of the door if she was sick or thought she was having a vision, which the nurse thought were hallucinations, and the prefect would escort her to the nurse's office. Of course, Clarisse was not ill or mentally unstable (she hoped), and never told anyone when she had visions if she could help it, but tonight, she decided to use this service to her advantage.

Clarisse sat at her locked window and heard the teacher's call for lights out. She also heard the familiar footsteps of a young prefect stationing herself outside the door, probably planning to catch up on homework or fall asleep until another prefect came for the next shift. Clarisse watched the sky, counting the number of stars that she could see, entertaining herself by seeing if any craters were visible on the full moon. Finally, when she thought enough time had passed, she pulled on pajamas over her clothes and mussed her pale hair to make it appear as though she had been sleeping. The she hurried to the door and tapped loudly three times. There was a pause, and then the door was flung open.

"What?" asked a frazzled light faerie wearing a silver prefect badge.

"I feel sick," Clarisse croaked, rolling her eyes back into her head.

"You'd better come see Nurse Waitfield right away!" the light faerie said, looking concerned. Clarisse felt the thoughts stirring in the faerie's mind, and knew that her concern was not for Clarisse, but that she would get into trouble if something happened to Clarisse on the way to the nurse.

Deciding she'd better make it a bit more convincing, Clarisse suddenly let out a high-pitched shriek. "The fire! It's everywhere!" she screamed, closing her eyes as though she was having a vision. She dropped to the floor in a faint and writhed about as though having a seizure, rather enjoying herself as she did so.

The light faerie was becoming generally panicked. "We have to see the nurse! Can you walk?" she asked slowly and loudly, as though Clarisse were deaf.

Clarisse nodded feebly and picked herself up off the floor. The light faerie pulled her out of the room, locked the door, and lit the way through the dark hall, grateful that the nurse's office was only one floor up.

Clarisse stumbled along the passage, making sure not to look at anything in particular so that she appeared to be hallucinating. When they reached the stairwell, Clarisse caught sight of a window tucked away beside the janitor's closet. Seizing her chance, Clarisse flung her arms out wide, sending a gust of wind hurtling through the window and knocking the light faerie off her feet. The light faerie, caught completely by surprise, crashed into the stairwell, and the magical light she'd been providing was extinguished. Quickly and silently Clarisse ran to the window, shoved it open, and jumped.

Luckily for Bernadette, her dark faerie roommate had been suspended for performing magic against another faerie, leaving Bernadette alone in her dormitory. It made it much easier to attempt to unlock her window without worrying about waking her roommate. Bernadette wished she had Hortensia's abilities with plants, because it would be much faster to go out the door and head upstairs to Hortensia's room. But, unable to produce a key that would fit the lock, she was forced to take the scenic route.

She retrieved the library spell book from its hiding place beneath the mattress and flipped through it until she found the correct page, which listed an unlocking spell. Hoping that it would work, Bernadette walked over to the window and tried to concentrate. Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes and focused all of her attention on the task before her. Finally, she opened her eyes and recited the spell from the book.

At first, nothing happened. But then Bernadette felt the magic flowing through her veins, and purple sparks began to dance around her fingertips. After several long minutes of breathless waiting, the magic left her, and the sparks were gone. Tentatively Bernadette approached the closed window and lifted the latch. It worked. Quietly she swung the window open and looked out. It was a beautiful night, with bright twinkling stars; Kreludor was a silvery sphere hanging in the inky sky. Taking a deep breath of fresh, pure air, Bernadette climbed out of the window and perched on the ledge. She looked across the lawn to their meeting place, but it was too dark to see if anyone was there.

Remembering that Hortensia was waiting for her, Bernadette flew off the ledge and closed the window behind her. Then she soared away, carefully avoiding the occasional lights shining from locked dormitory windows. She flew around the other side of the school and slowly descended into a clump of bushes just beside the back door of the cafeteria kitchen.

Once again she tried the unlocking spell, this time reciting from memory. She found it was much easier the second time. Proud of herself for figuring it out, Bernadette slipped through the door into the darkness of the school kitchen. She stepped around the scattered kitchen utensils and cooking equipment until she found the door leading out to the dining hall. She flew over the tops of the long tables, because it was faster than walking, and landed beside the massive doors. Luckily, one of them was partially opened, allowing her to slip through without any noise. Convinced that everything was going smoothly, Bernadette didn't notice when, passing by the vice principal's office, a dark shadow appeared behind her.

"Going somewhere, are we?" asked a familiar voice as someone placed a paw on her shoulder. Turning around, Bernadette saw a stumpy Meerca standing behind her with a look of satisfaction on his face. Bernadette had just been caught by none other than Rutherford himself.

Victoria's roommate, a water faerie named Arilene, was extremely annoyed that she shared a room with the most inept water faerie in the entire school. Twice this year she had called the principal when Victoria had gotten water all over some of her personal possessions. Arilene knew that Victoria didn't do mean to do it, but being a spiteful sort of faerie, she pretended that Victoria did it on purpose. Knowing all of this, Victoria had chosen a plan that involved a lot of water, mostly concentrated on Arilene's side of the dormitory.

Victoria was quite certain that she would get into trouble for this, but of course there were bigger things at stake here than a few detentions. She got ready for bed as usual, ignoring Arilene's usual complaint that she spent too much time in the bathroom.

Victoria lay down on her bed and turned out the light, as usual, but there was one small difference in her nighttime routine. She did not close the curtains over the window, allowing a thin shaft of silvery moonlight to partially illuminate the room. Arilene did not notice, as Victoria had hoped. This small amount of moonlight allowed Victoria to see what she was doing.

It also allowed her to guess how much time had passed. Hortensia, who had figured out most of tonight's plan, said that the riskiest part of the whole thing was timing. They didn't know how long it would take Bernadette to get to Hortensia's room, or how much trouble Hortensia and Victoria would have with their roommates, or how long it would take Clarisse to escape from the prefect. It was crucial that Victoria timed things exactly right.

Victoria closed her eyes and feigned sleep, but occasionally she cracked open one eyelid to peer out the window, judging time by Kreludor's position in the sky. After what felt like an eternity, the moon looked right. Victoria glanced at Arilene, who seemed to be asleep. Grinning to herself, she studied Arilene's side of the room for a long time, so that she could imagine it perfectly when she closed her eyes. Then, Victoria called forth the water. To her surprise, it wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it would be. The water came quite willingly; she didn't even need to whisper her commands.

Before she realized what was happening, a torrent of water rained down from the ceiling, materializing from thin air. Arilene woke, screaming, but it was too late to do anything. A flood of water soaked the bed, the floor, the walls, the furniture, the miscellaneous items strewn about the room, and of course Arilene herself.

"What did you do?" she shrieked, staring at the soggy remains of her possessions.

"Absolutely nothing," Victoria said innocently. "The water just came out of thin air."

"I'm calling the principal!" Arilene cried. She sprang from the bed, only to slip on the wet floor and crash into the nightstand.

"You'll pay for this!" Arilene raved, trying and failing to regain her footing.

"Will I?" said Victoria vaguely, smiling. She had never had so much fun before.

Finally, Arilene managed to get up from the floor. She ran a finger through the magical X carved into the wall, which alerted teachers of an emergency. All Faerie Heights dormitories had this, as a way of protecting the students.

When the dormitory door opened, Arilene had composed herself. Professor Trahtooh, the Practical Use of Water Magic teacher, opened the door to find Arilene standing on one side of the room, which looked completely flooded, and Victoria, still lying in bed with a rather triumphant smile on her face, completely dry.

"For Fyora's sake, what happened in here, girls?" asked Professor Trahtooh, looking suspiciously at Victoria.

"Victoria flooded my half of the room while I was sleeping!" Arilene exclaimed indignantly.

"Why did you do such a thing, Victoria?" asked Professor Trahtooh.

"I didn't," said Victoria, but she didn't sound convincing. Victoria was normally quite a good actress, but at the moment she was trying to keep from laughing, and she was hoping that Trahtooh would hurry up and drag her to the principal's office so she could escape and meet the others. Needless to say, Professor Trahtooh was not convinced of Victoria's innocence.

"To the principal's office, Victoria," snapped Professor Trahtooh. Arilene smiled smugly.

"Just a moment," said another voice from behind Trahtooh. Trahtooh turned and found Professor Hentoff standing behind her.

"Why, Hentoff, what are you doing up here?" she asked in surprise.

"Rutherford asked me to get something from his classroom for him, so I happened to be passing when I heard the alarm," he said easily. "If I may, I don't think Victoria could have done this," he continued, surveying the room. "No water faerie of her age could cause such a flood."

"Pardon me, Hentoff, but you don't know Victoria like I do. She has problems controlling herself. This is not the first time that Arilene has—"

"I am quite aware of the situation," he interrupted. "And I am telling you that, past instances or no, Victoria could not have done such damage at her age. It is unheard of. I should think I've been at this school long enough to know."

Victoria was very surprised at the latest development. She hadn't known Hentoff liked her enough to stand up for her. She also wondered why he seemed convinced that she couldn't have done it. He did seem to know what he was talking about, and Victoria had never seen a water faerie her age conjure up so much water, but did that mean they were incapable of doing this? After all, everyone said she was untalented, useless. How could she do something the others couldn't?

"What else could have happened?" demanded Trahtooh. "Victoria's side of the room is completely dry! The evidence speaks for itself, Hentoff."

"I do not know what happened," Hentoff replied, "but I am telling you that it was not Victoria, nor could it have been Arilene, nor any other water faerie of their age."

"Well, what are you proposing we do?" Trahtooh asked. Victoria was wondering that as well. If the teachers didn't take her out of the room, she couldn't escape and meet the others. Would they wait for her, if she didn't come?

"I will take Victoria to the principal's office for now. You can take Arilene to get some dry clothes and see if there's a vacant bed in another dormitory. We will leave the room as it is, for evidence, and let Principal decide what disciplinary measures, if any, should be taken."

Victoria let out a silent sigh of relief. The plan was still on schedule, and better yet, Hentoff would be taking her. He had no magic; it would be easy to escape.

Trahtooh sighed and agreed to the plan. She escorted the still-dripping Arilene down the hall, while Hentoff took Victoria down the stairs to the main floor.

As soon as Victoria saw a window she prepared to escape, but suddenly Hentoff turned and looked right at her.

"Don't even think about it," he hissed. Victoria looked at him in surprise.

"I know what you and your friends are up to," he whispered, "and I'm going to help. Just relax and follow me. Act like I didn't say anything, and I'm still taking you to the principal."

Victoria nodded in agreement, though she couldn't help wondering if it was a trap. Was Hentoff working for Dinusa and Rutherford? How did he know what she and the others were doing? Deciding she had no choice, at least for now, she followed Hentoff down the hall. He led her past all of the front offices, the dining hall, and the infirmary. They turned down the hall, which contained all of the main floor classrooms, including Hentoff's Magic History class.

Hentoff unlocked the door to the classroom and, ignoring Victoria's puzzled look, headed inside. Victoria thought about running away and meeting her friends, but decided they could wait awhile longer; she was far too curious to leave. She followed Hentoff inside and seated herself atop one of the student desks, while Hentoff sat in his chair.

"So," Hentoff said in a friendly tone, "I suppose an explanation is in order?"

"That would be nice," Victoria said. Hentoff laughed dryly.

"You do remember the story I told to your class, about Khorianna?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember my mentioning her brother?"

"Yes, the one who wrote down her last prophecies in his diary?"

"Yes, very good."

Victoria was starting to get impatient. "Look, sir, what does that have to do with anything me and my friends—?"

"Well, you see, Victoria, I am Khorianna's brother. My name is Marpameus."


End file.
